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Erica Olafson, Voyages of the Tigershark 27b
Chapter 27: Cruxor “It seems they do know how to operate space ships.” I was walking to the exit. “Elfi, can you get Dusty for me?” “Yes, Captain he is back on Electromagnetic comm, just like when we found it.” After hearing some static hissing, Dusty came on. “Captain, I successfully created a gravimetric focal point. I am currently holding approximately 12,000 of them, however, a large fleet jumped into Quasi before I could increase my mass to create that kind of gravitation. I am afraid they will head for the Gate.” “Damn!” --""-- The actual bridge of the Dominator was big enough to park a D20. The Seenian stations were gone and had been replaced with Union type duty stations. There weren't any more than on the Devi, but they were set further apart. Har-Hi was too worried about the Captain and the Tigershark to really think about the gravity of Stahls decision to let him command the biggest battleship in the Union fleet. The Dominator just jumped ahead of the Devi and the First Fleet into the Leo II galaxy. He had sent the coordinates of the Crucible to his helm department even before they jumped. The Dominator was not as fast as the Devi, she had a whole lot more mass to accelerate and to compensate for. They were almost at jump speed when Tactical reported a fleet of unknowns approaching, 27,500 large units. Sensor analysis confirmed Y'All engine signatures. He turned to the Kilonian Commander who had taken the role of XO."Sound Battle Stations!" --""-- A Farnok fleet was speeding to engage the Y'All. They knew they had no chance. The Farnok did not know where the Y'All were heading. Would they engage Farnok worlds? What happened next would go down in Farnok history and be told for generations to come. A ship dropped from Faster space. The Farnok sensor operators could not believe the scan results and checked with the other Farnok units. Whatever just appeared defied anything they knew. It was bigger than all Farnok ships combined and then some. The Y'All ships as many as they were, reduced to insignificance. Then hundreds of new suns suddenly bloomed among the Y'All ships and each of these energy globes swallowed dozens of the Y'All ships. The entire Y'All fleet was utterly consumed in mere minutes. Then an entire fleet of smaller ships appeared, each of them far bigger than anything the Farnok ever dreamt of building. There were thousands. Yet they moved in precision. Was this the end of the Farnok civilization? --""-- "I think we did an Olafson on them, Sir." The Kilonian said. Har-Hi asked the fleet to resume their course to the Crucible and then turned to the XO."I did what?" "It is taught at command school, sir. Hitting an enemy with everything you got, with all weapons. No warning shots, no negotiations. I think it has its origin of a Captain Olafson, who commanded the Devi a few years back." Har-Hi grinned widely."Oh yes, that one. I remember. I was there after all." One of the sensor operators reported. "Captain, forward scout units report a massive sun-like energy eruption at the designated destination. Har-Hi instantly lost his smile."Spirits of the Universe are we too late? Tactical are there any other energy signatures?" "Captain, the energy eruption is equal to a supernova, the energy wash blinds our sensors in that direction." "Excuses! Mao would have calibrated sensors by now. Shea and Tyr...never mind...you are good at what you do. I am just used to something else." "You used to the Tigershark and perhaps the best damn crew we have." A deep voice said. He turned and saw Stahl come up the ramp to the command balcony. Har-Hi's eyes stung suddenly."Yes Sir, because we have the best Captain." "So what do you think of the Domi?" "She is a tremendous ship, Sir." "I would have no problem advocating you for her captain, permanently." The Communications officer did not know Har-Hi was in conversation with the Admiral and reported."Captain Hi, we are being hailed by a USS Tigershark and a Captain Olafson." He said quietly."Sorry Sir, there is my Captain and my ship." Aloud he said."Put her on." "Captain Olafson, my Tactical officer reports a mighty big contact. Could that be the USS Dominator?" "This is Acting Captain Hi of the USS Dominator ahead of the First Fleet. Do you need assistance?" "Yes do not shoot at the Y'All ships that are with us. They are filled with refugees and allies. And maybe sent me a new XO, mine has been promoted. Congratulations, Captain Hi." Stahl walked into the visual pick up."I am sending you this stubborn Dai. He just refused the big seat of the biggest ship, just to be back with you, Captain Olafson." The Immortal also lowered his voice as he said to Har-Hi."And I don't blame you one bit, Lieutenant. As a matter of fact, I envy you." "I thank you, Sir, for the opportunity and the offer." "The Domi is far from finished. I just pulled her out of dock, because the Y'All problem could have been a whole lot bigger and besides it doesn't hurt her being seen in this part of space. She goes back and confining you for years to Arsenal would be cruel." "By the way where did you come from, Sir?" "From my office on the Devi. My entire big tub is sitting in your hangar 4." --""-- "And that is pretty much it," I said finishing my report. Admiral Stahl was there in person, Cherubim and McElligott were there via Avatar. McElligott's avatar had forgotten his burning pipe that had gone out for quite a while. Instead of building a bridge of space stations and preparing for the Y'All all we really had to do was sent the Tigershark. Don't we have any other unsolved problems?" "The Ypeherix come to mind," Cherubim said. McElligott waved her off."Never mind the Ypeherix now. What about Harold Julkus?" I glared at him."He is alive and in stasis. I did not kill him." Stahl put his hand on my shoulder."I heard that part of the report well. Erica, this decision of yours not to terminate the man and trust your instincts. Listening to your consciousness rather than executing orders blindly, makes you rise even more in my opinion. The man is innocent of the charges. He was and still is a pawn in a disgusting game of shadow services. I can't tell you details yet, but as soon as I know you will." McElligott looked like a beaten dog for a heartbeat as he glanced towards Stahl. To me he said."It is good as he said. We will brief you. By Gods sweet grace you have a higher security clearance than pretty much anyone." Cherubim finally spoke."Yes, we will brief you as soon as we have all the facts. Believe it or not, I just was briefed about this a few hours ago." She made a gesture towards the door."You really brought back a few thousand Y'All?" "Yes, Director Cherubim and a little over 2 million scavenger worms." "I am sure the office of colonist affairs has planets to spare for both species and we have specialists that can take it from there. You bring the Tigershark back to Richter 4 and we let you go for a nice vacation." "Could you not give us another assignment? I either get bored or in trouble when I am on vacation and I think my crew does not want any vacation either." --""-- "Whatz zey sayz?" Meeze intercepted coming out of my office. "They will give the Wheeze a nice planet of your own." "Pffz, Wheeze wantz eaz notz planez. Waz youz do?" The Admiralty saw the light and instead of giving us vacation, we are to resupply at Richer and then we go to a different part of the galaxy." "Gooz, Meeze goez too." "Just like that?" "Noz wiz the shipz of corze. Youze nize but mebbe noz too smarz." --""-- Here ends Volume 8. Category:Stories